


run, run for your life.

by peachcandykiddo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28397859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachcandykiddo/pseuds/peachcandykiddo
Summary: a look through kyoutani kentarou's volleyball career, and what brought him to where he is now.running.running, running, running, far far away.all of kentarou’s life was running.
Relationships: Kyoutani Kentarou & Yahaba Shigeru, Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	run, run for your life.

running. 

running, running, running, far far away. 

all of kentarou’s life was running. 

in the literal sense, he ran to stay in shape. to let off steam. the rhythmic pounding of sneakers against pavement set his mind to rest when nothing else would. the crunching of gravel under his feet, stray pebbles on the sidewalk, the soles of his running shoes slowly wearing through. 

in the figurative sense, he ran from people. from his feelings. away from anybody who dared get close, forcing their way through his prickly exterior. kentarou put that up for a reason — but some just ignored it. seemingly uncaring of the risk they put themselves under by getting close. 

so he ran. 

away from foster homes, from the very people who put them in those homes. into fights — anything to solidify that appearance of  _ don’t fuck with me _ . 

away from seijoh and the  _ grand king oikawa tooru _ . he scared kentarou the most. painfully observant, piercing gaze able to see right through even the thickest of smokescreens. 

the captain read him like a book — and kentarou couldn’t read him back. so he ran. 

he found comfort in the rec center. 

the rec center was volleyball, but it was volleyball without all the pressure. without oikawa. without the other reserves staring at him like he might snap at any moment, rolling their eyes at his anger-fueled spikes lacking in technique. 

at the rec center, the way kentarou hit the ball into the court with reckless abandon was watched with awe, almost fear in the eyes of his opponents. 

however, as much as he hated to admit it, kentarou missed seijoh. crushing opponents left and right lost its appeal, and he longed for a challenge. 

so for once in his life — kentarou ran towards something. back to something. 

he slunk into the gym, a scowl plastered onto his face as he scanned the faces of its occupants, shocked at his return. 

“mad-dog-chan!” 

oikawa tooru’s voice rang out from the far court, sending a shock up kentarou’s spine that caused his muscles to tense. 

being under that scrutinizing gaze once more made kentarou want to turn right back around and run once more. he could go for a good run anyways. 

however, kentarou knew he didn’t want to run from this. 

volleyball was his ticket out of the place he was in, seijoh the box office. 

so he set himself to the task of enduring the captain’s surveying stares and went to practice more. 

footsteps that came so easy when kentarou was running now felt so difficult when on his way from homeroom to the gym. he had to place one foot in front of the other, one step at a time until he found himself on the courts. 

oikawa tooru was something kentarou had been expecting. 

he had time to brace himself beforehand, prepare for the captain to go through the book that was kentarou’s thoughts and feelings. highlighting parts he thought were important.

that was something he knew going in. 

what he wasn’t counting on was yahaba shigeru. 

the other boy was on the team with kentarou in their first year, but he was quieter then. now, he was an insufferable captain’s pet. everything he did to please his  _ dear senpai the great king _ . including being on kentarou’s ass. 

kentarou supposed he was being groomed to be the next captain when oikawa graduated. 

while oikawa had to read and annotate an entire team’s worth of books, yahaba focused only on kentarou. 

the miniature oikawa was critical. and  _ really rude _ about it. not that kentarou could really be on a high horse there. anything kentarou did wrong, he was there pointing it out. 

pissed him off. 

everybody else was afraid of him — even some of the third years to some extent. 

scared of kentarou’s thorny exterior, steering clear to avoid being pricked.

yahaba shouldered his way right through those thorns like they were leaves on a tree that dangled just above the path.

and when kentarou shoved, yahaba shoved right back, completely unafraid. 

the first person in years who dared stand level with kentarou, look him right in the eyes and say  _ i’m not afraid of you. _

quickly it became almost comforting, yahaba’s constant criticism. somebody standing up to him. someone on equal ground to kentarou. it was less lonely, even if standing on equal ground meant yahaba nitpicking kentarou’s every move.

soon after this realization that he actually enjoyed yahaba’s company, going to practice became easier. it stopped feeling like there were rocks in his shoes, making every step a fight. 

because for the first time — kentarou had something to run towards.  _ someone to run towards. _

even if that somebody was the stuck-up, insufferable, captain-to-be, yahaba shigeru.

then came the karasuno match.

rounds before went by easily, opposing teams crushed beneath the power of seijoh, led by their grand king. kentarou fought the entire time, his all put into every single spike, every serve, every play. never saw the point of doing things halfway, even if he got in the way of others sometimes.

karasuno, however, was a whole different monster.

a monster constantly evolving, changing and growing at a rapid pace. the freak quick duo honing their skills, gears finally meshing together and coming together to create a killing machine.

but seijoh was a killing machine too, and kentarou was going to go down fighting and he was going to fight  _ hard. _

until he was benched for reckless behavior and stood next to yahaba with his arms crossed over his chest, stewing in anger. just because he was putting his all into the game he got taken out? sure, maybe he ran into a few people but— 

then a fist was grasping the front of kentarou’s jersey and using it to slam him into the wall.

from some of the older members there were warnings issued to yahaba to  _ not push kyoutani _ and  _ be careful _ , but just like always yahaba never cared. 

“you’re lucky you got let back after totally ditching,” yahaba spat out, holding kentarou against the wall with his fist still in the front of his uniform, “some of us  _ don’t get to be starters _ just like that.”

his yelling was almost grounding, and kentarou could feel the tension leaving his muscles as he locked eyes with yahaba.

“your attitude  _ sucks!”  _ yahaba continued, getting all up in kentarou’s face. something nobody else had ever bothered to do, “so shut up, be a team player, and if you track dirt onto the third year’s stage i will  _ never forgive you. _ got it?”

kentarou nodded, and that was when yahaba finally released his grasp on kentarou’s shirt.

“good.”

once switched back in, oikawa sent a toss to kentarou, something he wasn’t expecting. a gesture of the ultimate trust, saying that  _ i believe in you. get it together and hit it hard. _

and kentarou  _ hit it hard. _ the ball slammed into the other side of the court, and for the first time he felt a part of the team. energy coursed through his hands as oikawa handed off the ball to him, a moment of eye contact made, a message not missed by kentarou.

_ hit a good one. _

and kentarou hit a good one.

he continued to hit good ones, and just like that, it felt like seijoh was evolving. at long last they were truly working together, kentarou finally falling into the ranks of the battalion led by their great leader.

however, as seijoh was evolving, so was karasuno.

they fought and they fought  _ damn hard  _ until the last second — until karasuno came out on top.

with that one missed receive, blowing past oikawa’s forearms, the match was over.

kentarou got it together but he got it together too late. all of that running — towards and away from seijoh over and over again. it got in the way of the team’s victory.

_ if only he just would have worked harder. _

after shaking hands with the victors — kentarou did what he did best. he ran. 

he couldn’t stand to be around the team right now, the group that put their trust in him only to be let down by his refusal to cooperate.

he wasn’t quite sure where to — but kentarou just ran. eventually out of the building and down the campus sidewalks, pushing his already aching muscles to the limit, because what else could he do but run?

until finally, he tripped.

over what, kentarou didn’t know.

or maybe his legs just gave out.

but he tripped and he fell and the concrete shredded the skin on his knees and his hands.

_ fuck. _

it was then that his eyes welled up with tears — something that hadn’t happened for years. kentarou didn’t cry. 

however, there on the ground on the sidewalk of some high school he didn’t even know the name of, kentarou cried. 

“there something interesting down there?”

a familiar, snarky voice came from behind kentarou, and when he looked up he saw a familiar stupid face. of course, he would be the one oikawa sent to find him.

“fuck off,” he grumbled without much bite to it, because he didn’t really want yahaba to fuck off. 

“come on,” yahaba offered up a hand, “let’s go get your knees and hands cleaned up.”

kentarou simply stared at yahaba’s outstretched fingers, before he thrust it further towards kentarou, “let me help you up — staring won’t get you off the ground.”

“i’m sorry,” kentarou reached up to take yahaba’s hand, standing up. now that the adrenaline was finally wearing off, fatigue was setting in, and kentarou’s legs felt like jello. 

“for taking a few seconds to get up?” yahaba laughed, wiping off the blood that transferred from kentarou’s hands, “it’s really no big deal.”

“no,” kentarou shook his head as they began walking back towards the building, “i… tracked dirt onto the senpai’s stage or whatever the fuck you said. we lost.”

“it wasn’t your fault,” yahaba stopped in his tracks to turn and face kentarou, “we all played our hardest. they were just better. no one point lost is your fault, and no one point gained is completely your doing. every point belongs to the team as a whole. and as a whole, we worked our asses off. okay?”

“y’know i always thought you were a totally shallow guy like oikawa.” kentarou remarked, a ghost of a laugh coming through the tears.

“he’s not as shallow as you think,” yahaba shrugged, and the two began their trek back into the gym once more, “just hides it really well.”

kentarou snorted in agreement, hiding it well was an understatement.

if kyoutani had up walls — oikawa tooru built an entire castle around his soul.

as disappointing as the outcome of the match was — kentarou felt an odd sort of peace after speaking to yahaba. the team went out for dinner, laughing and crying and laughing some more over bowls of ramen that came at the expense of oikawa’s bank account.

the next year — kentarou sprinted to practice.

because he finally found _ that something _ truly worth running towards. that someone, as much as he hated to admit it. that someone was the newly coronated grand king of seijoh, yahaba shigeru, and kentarou had duties to fulfill as his right-hand man. 

so he ran. he ran until his lungs wanted to give out and kentarou didn’t care because he was going back. back to seijoh.

_ back home. _


End file.
